India blasts US over Zim gem ban
Sunday, 26 February 2012 00:00
India’s Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has blasted the United States sanctions against diamonds from Zimbabwe, saying the measures were hurting job creation in the south Asian country.
India has emerged a major market for Zimbabwean diamonds after industry watchdog the KimberlyProcess (KP) cleared for export gems mined in the Marange region. But GJEPC — India’s apex body of the gems and jewellry sector — said
a decision by the United States to slap with sanctions two major Marange diamond mining companies despite the KP clearance was unhelpful.
“India has the potential to create more employment in the diamond and jewellery-manufacturing centre, provided the US lifts its ban on Zimbabwe diamonds,” GJEPC vice chairman Sanjay Kothari told Indian media.
The US added Mbada Diamonds and Marange Resources to the list of companies sanctioned under its Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) in December 2011.
The companies were apparently punished for being joint venture partners with the State-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC) which was already on the sanctions list.
Kothari said the move — which came after the United States backed the KP decision to clear the mines — was unjustified and called on the Indian government to take the matter up with its US counterparts.
“Zimbabwe has the right to legally sell its rough diamonds in the world market after getting clearance from Kimberley Process,” he said.
“But most of the big diamond companies in India do not want to expose their links with Zimbabwe because they are wary of US sanctions and its trade groups.
“However, we want to strongly urge the (Indian) central government to take up the issue with its US counterparts.”
Another GJEPC official, Chandrakant Sanghavi, added: “Zimbabwe diamonds are banned in US and Europe, which constitute around 45 percent of the world diamond jewellery market.
“If the US clears Zimbabwe diamonds, then Surat would need extra manpower to cater to the growing demand of these low-cost diamonds in the world.”
— Times of India/New Zimbabwe.com
Labels: DIAMONDS, INDIAN DIAMOND INSTITUTE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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India to set up diamond institute in Zimbabwe
By: Tradingmarkets.com
Posted: Thursday, October 21, 2010 1:56 am
INTERNATIONAL diamond trading nation, India could soon establish a diamond institute in Zimbabwe that will offer training services in the area of value addition to the precious mineral.
Indian Diamond Institute chairman Mr Aagam Sanghavi said that his organisation had proposed to train Zimbabweans in the area of diamond designing, cutting and polishing.
"We will train the young talents of Zimbabwe in diamond cutting and polishing.
"If need be, we would also set up an institute in Harare so that the unemployed youths can be trained and they start adding value to the diamonds," he said.
The offer by the institute to train Zimbabweans through its structures has been buttressed by the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian diamond sourcing consortium, Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Ltd, and Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Mining Development Mr Obert Mpofu.
In terms of this MoU, the Indian Diamond Institute will train young workers in Zimbabwe as diamond cutters and polishers in exchange for a direct supply of rough diamonds to Surat.
According to the SRDSIL chairman Mr Ashit Mehta, Surat is targeting to receive US$1,2 billion worth of rough diamonds from Zimbabwe annually.
Minister Mpofu has indicated that the country could become a top diamond producer within a three-year-period.
"The two diamond-mining firms are extracting diamonds from 1 000-hectare land. We have the remaining 76 000 hectares of land having a huge reserve of diamonds.
"If it is exploited then we may become the world’s top diamond producing country," said Minister Mpofu during the earlier part of his visit to India.
Meanwhile, ABN Amro has said that it has not boycotted Zimbabwe diamonds.
This comes at the back of reports that two European banking groups, ABN Amro and the Antwerp Diamond Bank had indicated during the Bank Finance session on the second day of the Mines to Market conference in Mumbai this week, that they would not finance international diamond transactions with Zimbabwe, citing reputation concerns over dealing with the country.
ABN Amro Bank NV’s International Diamond and Jewellery Group chief executive officer Mr Victor Van Der Kwast, clarified to the Times of India earlier statements made during the Mines to Market conference in Mumbai this week regarding his bank’s refusal to deal with Zimbabwe or its diamond sector.
Mr Van Der Kwast told the newspaper that his bank is not hostile to Zimbabwe and could help the country exploit its diamond resources.
"But since we operate in Europe, we have to follow the rules and regulations and the European Union’s sanctions on Zimbabwe.
"We want to assure the diamond people in Zimbabwe and India, especially Surat that we will take a trade delegation to Zimbabwe to resolve the issue," he said.
Zimbabwe had accumulated a stockpile of around six million carats of diamonds during the pre-Kimberely Process (KP) certification period.
India has since become a key buyer of Zimbabwean diamonds since the commencement of auctioning.
Labels: AAGAM SANGHAVI, DIAMONDS, INDIA, INDIAN DIAMOND INSTITUTE, KIMBERLEY PROCESS
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